One of my friends is vegan and for her birthday her wish was that everybody make it a meatfree day that day.
I've always thought about becoming vegetarian but it seemed too final and I couldn't stick with it for long. I LOVE animals but I still always liked to eat them.
I liked the idea of having meat free days though (since it was less strict and final than becoming vegetarian) and so for her birthday I started going meat-free. I planned so much that I actually ended up with lots of yummy meat free meal ideas so I just kept going. I tried some interesting things on the vegan side as well such as nut cheese!
After a couple of weeks I noticed that my arthritis was much less bothersome on the meat-free diet so I continued to avoid meat. I started losing weight and gaining energy. The accumulation of really tasty alternatives, health benefits and love for animals made it easy to stick with it.
I still don't want to call myself vegetarian because it sounds so final but I can't remember the last time I ate meat.
Then I found out meatless is also fantastic for the environment!
Check out this cool article:
http://www.alternet.org/water/134650/the_startling_effects_of_going_vegetarian_for_just_one_day/Isn't that impressive? And it doesn't take a major commitment.
Just one meatless day a week could have a huge impact!
